Endorsed by Airports Council International-North America and Airlines for America

Dear Colleague:

Our aviation security system desperately needs additional resources to address today’s threat environment. That’s why Congress established an airline passenger fee, the September 11 Security Fee, in order to help finance the cost of securing the nation’s
aviation transportation system. The passenger fee is currently $5.60 per one-way trip and may not exceed $11.20 round trip.

However, in 2013, Congress began diverting one-third of the revenue collected from these airline passenger fees to the general fund to pay for unrelated government spending.Unfortunately, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 extended the diversion of funds through FY 2027.In total, more than $19 billion will be diverted from aviation security through FY 2027 unless current law is changed.

The reality is that today’s threats to aviation are diverse and significant. Presently, there is great interest in system-wide deployment of Computed Tomography (CT) screening equipment to passenger security checkpoints, a technology widely-viewed as significantly
enhancing the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) threat detection capability. Last November, TSA Administrator David Pekoske testified before the House Committee on Homeland Security and stated that the return of those funds to their original,
intended purpose would “go a long way” to assisting with the deployment of CT screening equipment and making our travel safer.

The Funding for Aviation Screeners and Threat Elimination Restoration (FASTER) Act ensures that revenues collected from passengers are used to help finance the costs of aviation security screening – as Congress intended. The FASTER Act will enable TSA to
fund next generation CT screening technology already in operation in other countries to keep Americans safer. It will also allow TSA to hire additional Transportation Security Officers or fund overtime to help address the enormous congestion at TSA screening
in certain airports, making our airports more efficient and passengers less frustrated.

We urge you to cosponsor H.R. 2514, the FASTER Act, to ensure that passenger security fees only go towards aviation security and prevent Congress from raiding the funds in the future.